Masing: State govt not involved in Defence Ministry’s Jiwa Murni rural road project

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Photo from MACC shows one of the affected roads in an unspecified location. – Picture by MACC

KUCHING (Sept 10): The Defence Ministry’s Jiwa Murni rural road programme does not involve the state government, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing explained after two local company directors were nabbed for allegedly submitting false claims for the project.

He said the project did not come under his Infrastructure and Port Development Ministry or the state Public Works Department (JKR).

“Jiwa Murni roads are not JKR roads. The state government has no connection either with the fundings or with award of contractors to build Jiwa Murni roads in Sarawak,” he said in a statement.

Federal Works Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusuf, when contacted, also said the case had nothing to do with his ministry.

The two directors, with the ‘Datuk’ title, have been remanded until tomorrow to facilitate the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe into a RM800 million Jiwa Murni project for the upgrading of 10 roads in Miri, Kapit, Ba’ Kelalan, Limbang and Belaga.

Announcing the bust on Tuesday, the MACC said the directors, age 42 and 44, had owned three companies that monopolised the project which was awarded by the Defence Ministry from 2010 to 2016.

It claimed in a statement that the roads were not built in accordance with the Public Works Department’s standards, alleging further that the roads were only tar-sealed two inches high from the soil surface.

Citing a source, the statement said the state JKR had appointed four contractors to repair the roads and one of the companies belonged to the two directors. It said the suspects’ companies should have been blacklisted.

Weighing in on the case, PKR Sarawak information chief Abun Sui said he was disappointed that one of the affected roads was in Belaga which he had been highlighting many times before via Facebook.

He urged the state government to oversee the construction of all roads under the Jiwa Murni programme.